Screaming Jay Hawkins "Frenzy" 1982 (ReUp!)A master of true-image rock & roll musicianship, Jay appeared in a cape, turban, and shades, carrying with him a skull called Henry. Palm-concealed flash paper ignited by cigarette-smoking Henry heralded his entrances. FLASH... a series of images... Jay backstage at the Wheel concealed behind a door, the featured artisteof the evening was T-Bone Walker; Jay having last seen him some fourteen years previously when there had been some trouble concerning a trombone fired from an Arkansas Hotel window at three a. m. Jay leapt from behind the door as T-Bone was making his way to the stage, utterly destroying the bluesmaster's sense of reality... later Jay joined T-Bone on stage for a stunning version of "Mumblin' Blues"... Jay driving Neil's Anglia at full throttle down Wilmslow Rd., left wheels touching the kerb, singing at the top of his voice... a burst of opera when interviewed by Jimmy Saville on TV... Jay enhancing some lucky young couple's wedding, when, appearing into the afternoon summer sunlight they were greeted by the sight of Screamin' Jay Hawkins leaning from his hotel window opposite the church, waving Henry and firing blanks from a .32 shouting "Shame on you!"... memories of tours in the States in the fifties with Chuck Willis and Nappy Brown... each in their Cadillacs with a case of Scotch, Bourbon or Brandy in the trunk of their cars stopping by the side of the road to set up a bar... Jay appearing at the Apollo - emerging scratched and torn from his coffin; the man had had a monkey with him at the time and the release catch had stuck... A nightclub owner in Chicago who had been reluctant to part with Jay's fee, being asked to ignite the gunpowdrer in the special effects box at the side of the stage - Jay had thoughtfully primed it with three times the normal amount of powder - nightclub owner losing eyebrows... Jay onstage... the stage in pitch darkness... a terrifying bang which scared the audience silly... Jay emerging into the spotlight over the "I Put A Spell On You" riff, Henry smoking a cigarette (you know smoking's bad for you, look at Henry) FLASH... Jay's rich baritone coming as though from the back of a swamp-filled cave... howling, screaming, grunting the lyrics, Jay suddenly whipping out a battered tenor sax, blasting the enthralled audience with all the power his lungs could command... the red spotlight, white turban, shades, a skull on the end of a pole... BANG!... FLASH!... "I put a spell on you... because... you're mine... SCREAM... all mine... CRASH!"... and now a whole album full of the choicest cuts from the man's repertoire... play it loud and often. linernotes: Roger Eagle April 1982